SLK – AUSmotive.com

Mercedes-Benz had a huge presence at the 2012 Australian International Motor Show, made even more noticeable by the absence of both Audi and BMW. It’s actually very refreshing to see how serious Mercedes takes the Australian market, when we often get treated as second best by other manufacturers.

A great example of that is the CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake â€˜Edition 1â€™ you see above. With an extra 24kW/100Nm compared to the base-spec CLS 63 AMG, if you can call any AMG base-spec, the Edition 1 boasts the massive numbers of 410kW/800Nm. It’s limited globally and five have been allocated to Australia, all of which will be delivered a full three months ahead of regular Shooting Brake deliveries.

Further highlighting the level of faith Mercedes holds with local customers another three special AMG models were on display. Fans of open top motoring were presented with the SLK AMG 55 in designo magno cashmere white metallic paint, a fancy term for matte white. Other highlights on the SLK included carbon fibre interior and mystic blue exclusive leather upholstery.

There was also an SLS AMG Roadster, which just looks the balls from behind. It was wearing a specially created coarse silver metallic paint, which did look a little odd we have to admit. We’re mostly not fans of red interiors, but in this SLS Roadster it looked great.

If you’re like us and prefer your road cars to have a roof then you can stand and admire the C63 AMG CoupÃ© in designo mystic blue paint. It looked hot! The look was completed with lashing of AMG’s best carbon fibre trim, a leather dashboard and trick 19″ alloy wheels. It was our pick.

Third generation Mercedes-Benz SLK

First filed 14 January 2011.

Mercedes-Benz has just released information and pics for its third generation SLK. On initial assessment, each progression the SLK takes it improves on its past.

The first gen SLK was a bit, well, most people called it “one of those Kompressor thingys” due to its use of forced-fed engines and subsequent badging, which was quite prominent. It suited its hairdresser demographic perfectly. The second gen SLK certainly improved the styling and made a decent step forward with its chassis tune, as well. A few laps around the NÃ¼rburgring by AUSmotive’s editor can attest to that.

Now, the latest SLK, has once again improved on the styling and has now perhaps, finally, matured from the hairdresser tag once and for all. Well, as much as any non-supercar convertible can.

The metal folding roof on the new SLK has a great party trick, too. It’s called Magic Sky Control and essentially there’s a glass opening, much like a conventional sunroof. While it can’t open or tilt, you can effectively close out the light with a switch of a button. There’s a brief example in the official video below.

Euro buyers can order the SLK from next week and they’ll have three choices to begin with. There’s a pair of four cylinders options in the 135kW SLK 200 and 150kW SLK 250. The high-po model, until AMG gets its grubby little hands on this car, is provided by a 3.5 litre V6 in the 225kW SLK 350. All have been mercifully tagged with a BlueEFFICIENCY moniker, as well. Of course, Mercedes are banging on about reductions in fuel use and all sorts of green washing.

Australian buyers should see the SLK on local shores some time after June.

Overall, though, this new SLK is a pretty nice looking machine. Would we lust after one here at AUSmotive HQ? Probably not, but we certainly won’t be dismissing it off hand as we may have done with earlier generations.

There’s a handful of pics and the Mercedes press release for you after the break.

UPDATE 18 January: 30 new pics have now been added.